COLUMBUS, Ohio - State Attorney General Mike DeWine, also a candidate for governor, announced Monday he wants to begin lawsuit settlement discussions with the five pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids.

The Republican didn't reveal how much he wants the companies to pay. But at a Monday morning news conference, he announced a 12-point plan to combat the opioid epidemic that includes initiatives that will cost billions of dollars, such as doubling the state's drug treatment capacity.

"The drug companies should pay for this," DeWine said. "They must be held to account. And I will do everything within my power to make them do that. They created this misery. They created this destruction and I'm determined to bring them to justice by demanding they fund the extensive effort needed to clean up their mess."

About 14 Ohioans die a day from drug overdoses, the attorney general said. Many became hooked on heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil by first becoming addicted to legal opioids such as OxyContin that drug companies encouraged doctors to prescribe, discounting their addictiveness, DeWine said.

DeWine said his office sent letters to the five pharmaceutical companies Monday -- Purdue Pharma, Endo Health Solutions, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan, formerly known as Actavis, saying they had 30 days to come forward with settlement solutions or he would add pressure.

DeWine declined to reveal how he would lean on the companies, saying he didn't want the drug makers to see his hand. He said that the more the public learns about how the industry pushed opioids, the more they will be outraged.

"Despite making billions, billions of dollars from these drugs, they have done comparatively little to help those with substance abuse disorders," he said.

Cleveland.com has left messages with the five manufacturers. Three responded.

Allergan has a history of supporting safe and responsible use of prescription medications. Its two opioids, Norco and Kadian, accounted for less than 0.08 percent of opioids prescribed in 2016 in the U.S., said Mark Marmur, a company spokesman.

"Allergan intends to work cooperatively with Attorney General DeWine, as we have in the past, on this issue," he said.

Johnson and Johnson, too, said its opioids have been less than 1 percent of total opioid prescriptions written a year since 2008. It believes DeWine's allegations in the lawsuits are unfounded, said William Foster, a spokesperson for the company said.

"We have not received the letter yet, therefore we have not had the chance the review and cannot respond," Teva's Denise Bradley said in a statement.

Other ideas in DeWine's 12-point plan to attack the opioid epidemic include:

A $10 million data analytics system available to all 1,000 law enforcement agencies in Ohio that would help track currently fragmented information about Mexican drug cartels and drug runners.

Creation of at least 60 more specialized drug courts that assist addicts who have been charged with drug crimes get clean and sober at a cost of $9 million or $10 million a year.

A cabinet position reporting the governor dedicated solely on the state's opioids problem. It's unclear how DeWine, who will be attorney general through next year, can accomplish this in his current position.

DeWine also said that drug distributors should also be part of a settlement. He believes they helped escalate the problem. They are not part of his original lawsuit.

"In regard to the wholesale distributors, we are very close to an announcement about whether we file a lawsuit in regard to them," he said.

The Ohio Democratic Party has criticized DeWine for not reining in the opioid epidemic before it reached a crisis. Chairman David Pepper considered suing drug companies in 2014, when he attempted to unseat the attorney general.